Daily Archives: January 26, 2012

Big 12 and West Virginia fans, if you’ve got a bone to pick with the uncertainty facing you right now, the Big 12 commissioner knows just who you should blame.

“The one thing that gets lost is we’re in this predicament because the SEC invited Missouri,” Neinas said. “But the SEC was willing to play with 13 [rather than 14] next season. We made an offer to Missouri that was financially beneficial to stay for another year. Missouri made the decision not to accept.

“We had a teleconference call with those in the SEC, Big East, ACC, Mountain West and Conference USA. We all agreed we could save money and avoid litigation if all held serve for 2012-13. All agreed. But Missouri made a very selfish decision. It’s been very disruptive. Missouri gave us notice in November [of 2011] and it’s pretty difficult to move forward then.”

Because, you see, if Missouri had agreed to stick around in a place it wasn’t wanted anymore, Neinas’ conference wouldn’t have had to raid the Big East as abruptly as it did. Yes, if only Missouri could have behaved as nobly as every conference has in handling expansion/realignment. What a happier world we’d all be living in right now.

More hope for Auburn: “While college coaches have struggled transitioning to the N.F.L. — take note, Chip Kelly — N.F.L. defensive coordinators have largely experienced a smooth transition to the college game.”

Awesome piece by Chris Brown on the long-term impact of the 2000 meeting between Northwestern and Michigan. It’s another illustration of why college ball is so much more fun to follow than the NFL.